


The Christmas Train

by youvebeengnomed



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas Fluff, Complete, F/F, I have chapters in waiting, Ice Skating, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, This is so fucking cliche, This may be loosely based on hallmark movie plots combined, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, also mais brother doesn't exist cause i said so, and stupid, replenish the mailee tag 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:07:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27706700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youvebeengnomed/pseuds/youvebeengnomed
Summary: Mai has a crush on the girl who works at the coffee shop.
Relationships: Mai & Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Past Mai/Zuko - Relationship, Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i'm gonna post like every week or two. i have a few more chapters pre-written but i gotta write more so i'm not ✨stressed✨

mai didn't even like coffee. she couldn't drink caffeine ever since she was little because it made her anxiety pretty much skyrocket, but here she was, again. in the same coffee shop she had been to on and off for the past few weeks, and all because of a pretty girl. Mai was never one to get crushes easily, even when she was littler and that's all girls in her grade talked about. she never really got what was so great about it. that could be because those girls were boy crazy and to but it bluntly, mai was the opposite. but this almost felt different. not like a crush you had in fifth grade where you looked around and found the least annoying boy and picked him, like genuine infatuation. she had gotten lost in her thoughts again. she was snapped back to reality be the very girl occupying the thoughts she got lost in, and her overly cheery voice for this early in the morning. this time it was empty enough for her to order a half-caf without getting dirty looks from the coffee snob boys. mai ordered her drink.   
"uhh can i get a half caf peppermint mocha?" the girl, ty lee, that's what her name tag said, smiled at her more than usual.  
"sure!"   
mai panicked a little but she gave ty lee a little smile back and went to set her things at a table and waited for her drink. she was planning to finish some of her work before class while she was there but honestly she was too antsy to do anything at the moment. she pulled out her phone and frantically texted zuko, they had dated for a bit before they both realized they were gay, but stayed good friends and pretty much became moral support for each other and their relationships. she had egged him on enough to finally ask sokka out and they had been dating for a few months now.   
"she smiled at me more than normal today, i'm genuinely thinking about striking up a real conversation lmao" she got a pretty fast response. zuko was almost as addicted to his phone as Mai was.  
"you should. compliment her nails or something."  
her drink was called and when she went over to get it she noticed how long and pink ty lee's nails were. probably acrylic.   
"thanks! i really like your nails as well!" she added hastily.   
"oh! i like yours too!" ty lee responded in her usual sweet high pitched voice. mai glanced down at her own short, poorly painted black nails. only someone who was just nice or flirting would compliment them. she guessed ty lee was probably just being nice.   
"you like pink i'm guessing?" mai said.  
"yup! it's my favorite color, you can probably tell." you could tell. pink nails, pink tips of her hair, her name tag was pink as well.   
"yeah? i like red."   
"that's a nice color as well! are you a holiday person? i'm pretty into them myself."  
god. mai was not a holiday person, but for the sake of her itty bitty crush, "yeah, i'm a big christmas fan!" mai was not a good lier but she thought that it was pretty believable for her standards.   
"you know what," ty lee picked up the cup and scribbled something down on it. "i like you mai, you've been coming in here long enough"   
her number, mai thought. she did it after about 3 weeks of working up the courage to even talk to her. mai grinned at her. "i guess i'll text you!" mai said as she left the shop.   
she looked around the streets as she walked to her bus stop. there was already so much christmas stuff lining the street, it was a main street so that was kind of a given. it was only mid november, not even thanksgiving yet. not that she even liked thanksgiving. her family mostly skipped that, her dad sometimes had business friends over but that was about it. she had some unpleasant memories associated with christmas so that's probably why she acted like the stuck up city guy in a hallmark movie. her bus was here and she had to get to her class.   
after her classes were over for the day she pulled out her phone to text ty lee  
"umm hi it's mai from the coffee shop" now she put her phone down and made herself a tea. her parents didn't get home till late so she had the house to herself for a few hours. she got a response almost right after sitting down o her couch with her drink.   
"hey! it's ty lee!" a valid intro, mai was kind of hoping that ty lee would start the conversation but whatever.   
"how was work?"  
"it went pretty well! busy this morning! you just missed everyone, i'm kinda glad tho. we got more time to talk!"   
"yeah, is it usually that busy that early in the morning?" mai replied, she was almost desperate to keep the ball rolling in this chat session   
"not usually but it's the holiday so more people are coming in, speaking of the holidays! you said you liked christmas! there's an outdoor holiday festival being set up for this weekend, if your not doing anything i could take you! :)"  
my god, mai thought. this early on in the relationship and she had already asked mai out?? well not on a date date but still! "that would be great! i'm looking foreword to it."  
she switched contacts and texted zuko "you know how i said i was gonna start a conversation with coffee girl today? well she gave me her number and we're gonna go to that festival for the holidays in town."   
"oh really? smooth, mai." he texted back. she thought it was a joke rather than a genuine compliment on her relationship game but you never know with zuko. "you'll have to tell me how it goes, me and sokka were thinking about going while it was here."   
"we will. i'm not even that big of a christmas person but i'm really looking foreword to it." mai was being more emotional than she would've liked to admit, she was actually showing genuine happiness instead of the usual dry monotone responses.   
"i'll pick you up at around 4 on saturday if that works for you! 💖," ty lee said.  
a heart already???? she seemed like the type to throw around things like that but still, for mai this was going a little fast. she was grinning like an idiot now.   
"yup. that works for me! see you then." with a lot of thought she added a 🖤 at the end for good measure. she had a date, a christmas fair date, god it was like she was living some other version of a hallmark movie. but nonetheless she had more of a crush than she would like to admit


	2. The Train part lol

the rest of the week passed with relative ease. people got more into christmas and soon enough it was saturday. mai had no christmas clothes so she had to have zuko bring her a sweater "are you even excited or are you just anxious?"  
mai stared for a second "is it that obvious? also yeah i'm excited, i just haven't went on a real date in like a year."   
"it's that obvious." he said, handing her a tacky red sweater with a tree on it. it looked itchy.   
mai flipped him off in a joking way. "should i bring her flowers or something?"  
"that's a bit overkill if it's not even confirmed to be a romantic thing, but if you want to, go for it!"   
"oh shit what if she's straight, i didn't even think of that." mai was worrying more now. "i'm getting flowers i'll say it's for christmas or something."  
"mai i don't think she's straight from what you've said there's like a 95% chance she's not, i get that you're worried but it'll all be okay." zuko was surprisingly good moral support.   
"thanks for everything." mai said. "hug?" they hugged and then zuko left. mai went to her nearest walmart and the only plants left were those red ones that churches make you pay to put on dead peoples graves. whatever it'll be fine. she bought them and headed back home to get ready.   
when she put the sweater on it was less itchy than she thought but she didn't know how long she'd be able to sit in it. she went downstairs again and grabbed her comically large thing of flowers and sat in the room. her parents were working late again today, she figured she would just tell them where she was when they asked. After all, it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. shit, she hadn't even given ty lee her address. she could be so dumb sometimes. she pulled out her phone and apologized and sent her address. now she had like a good 15-20 minutes by herself. like 15 minutes later ty lee showed up. "uh wow. you look really nice," mai said. ty lee looked way more than nice but mai didn't have the confidence to tell her that. "oh shit i have something for you." she ran into the room off the entrance hall and grabbed her laughably sized flowers. "here, they weren't supposed to be that big but it was the only one they had. sorry!"   
"thank you!! they're great! also you look really good as well." ty lee said  
god, mai really loved her voice.   
"okay are you ready?"   
"yup. just let me grab a hat." mai went into the other room and grabbed a red beanie for herself and stuffed a pink one in her pocket for good measure. they went out to ty lee's car.   
"the park where the festival is isn't too far from here, don't worry." ty lee assured her.   
"is traffic okay?" mai was almost determined to find something to worry about.   
"yup! i checked beforehand." ty lee switched the radio to the christmas station. they rode in relative silence for the rest of the way.   
when they got there they went to the ticket area and bought their own tickets. "where do you want to go first?" ty lee asked.   
"well we could go on the christmas train first and then do the other things after just so we know we had the time to do the train. "  
"that sounds wonderful"   
mai didn't know how to explain it but ty lee's voice sounded exactly like a cross between a heart and that little smiley face thing :). "okay let's go see the train."   
they wandered over to the train platform. when they got there mai pulled the hat she had grabbed and offered it to ty lee. it was too cold to be without one. ty lee put it on and smiled at her. the train showed up a few minutes later. they got on and headed to the back car because there would be less people. they sat in the back. the train was a crawling pace through the park, the park was set up with a bunch of light displays and you could watch people go about their little outing as you rode past. they were the only ones in the car. oops. trains are a stereotypically romantic outing. was this a date? mai was now more worried than she normally was.   
"you there? you spaced out for a minute," ty lee said, "the lights are really pretty. christmas is probably one of my favorite times of the year. it really just brings everyone together. i also like the parties, and the movies, and listening to christmas music."   
mai snapped out of her worry spiral. "yeah. i like this time of year too." ty lee was really cute when she talked about something she loved. she wasn't exaggerating about the lights though. they hung from the trees like tiny icicles and decorated the park like some sort of really pretty light up sweater. mai looked back at her. then ty lee said "can i hold your hand?"  
FUCK mai was like full on gay panic now. "umm sure!" ty lee took mai's hand in hers. her hands were so warm compared to mai's. and smaller too. they held hands and looked at the lights for the rest of the ride. it was nice. when they got off, mai was more sure than ever that she might be in love. after the got off they went to a hot cocoa tent.   
ty lee ordered the sugariest thing possible and then looked at mai and said "get whatever you want! i'll pay this time." mai just got a regular hot chocolate. they found a table outside with their drinks and sat down.   
"so aside from working at a coffee shop and loving christmas, what do you do for fun?" mai asked  
"well i do gymnastics and school. what do you do?"  
"i'm at home by myself for some of the week so i like to read. i do a lot of homework for my classes as well."  
"huh. maybe we could do something else on one of those days!"   
"sure! also this might be premature but my childhood best friend is having an annual holiday party and i was wondering if you wanted to come? me and her aren't that close anymore, i was more friends with her brother so it's a bit awkward."  
"of course! it sounds fun!"  
"it's next week. it's a formal thing, her dad's a big business person so like, dresses are the norm. if that's okay with you."  
"it sounds great! keep me posted on the details." ty lee took mai's hand in hers again and they just kinda looked at each other across the table for a few minutes.   
"is there anything else you want to do here or should we go back to the car?" ty lee asked.   
"there's nothing else i want to do, but if you do that's okay."  
"nope! we can go out to the car and just sit for a while if you don't want to leave yet."   
so they did. they sat in the car and talked for another 15 minutes before ty lee brought mai home. it was only like 6:30 so her parents weren't even home yet. "can i give you a hug before i leave?" ty lee asked.   
"sure." mai appreciated her asking before, she was a sensitive person when it came to physical affection. they hugged and ty lee drove off. mai took off her coat and hat and sat down on the couch to call zuko to tell him what happened. to be honest she was almost looking forward to azulas holiday party even though it was the most dreaded event of the year between her and zuko.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave comments lol i'm desperate


	3. party pt 1

the week passed by almost too quickly for mais liking, especially this week. even though she was bringing ty lee this was going to be hell. her entire family was going for business or whatever, that was the reason mai had met zuko and azula in the first place. she and azula used to be best friends till they grew apart in the beginning of high school. mai had turned her back on azula when she found out just how toxic she could be. she started hanging out with zuko and sokka's friends instead. they were nicer and treated her like person even after she came out. but her family still had to go to the annual christmas party, as if seeing her old toxic friend there wasn't bad enough, mai did not do well with parties. ever since she was little she was really sensitive to loud noises and she couldn't handle crowds. she still hated them but she learned how to regulate that, along with almost every other emotion she had. but still, sometimes if provoked enough she would lash out and have to leave. but with enough mental preparation and being in a positive headspace she could probably handle it.   
all that week her parents had been nagging her about what she was wearing to the party, mai wanted to wear her usual formal button down and suit pants but her parents were doing the same thing they did every year, trying to guilt trip her into dressing up more. "mai, you know we have an appearance to keep up, how are we going to do that when you look, well, how you do," mai wasn't thrilled but she knew that even her every day wear was pushing her luck so she was probably just going to have to go along with it. "we've been over this, it's just one night. you can go back to, whatever you call what you wear, the day after. just please cooperate for once"  
"okay i'll dress up more if it's not a dress this year. you know how i feel about them."  
"fine."  
she had an idea that would fit both her and her parents expectations. she ran upstairs and found a black pantsuit that she could pair with a sweater so that she could be comfortable but it was dressy enough for the occasion. god she was bad with remembering to tell people things. she texted ty lee "sorry it's so late, here's the address it's on friday at 7. formal wear is expected. i'm wearing a pantsuit if that's anything to go by." there she felt a little better already.   
before she knew it, it was saturday. she had covered the details with ty lee beforehand. they would meet at Azula's house. mai would ride with her family and ty lee would ride by herself. they would find each other at a certain spot that was to be decided. if they could survive the weird passive aggressive energy that was azula they could pretty much go through hell and back together. plus mai just really wanted to see ty lee again. as they got to know each other more, whether over text or when they went out, mai realized that ty lee really brought out the best in her. she could really be herself without thinking about keeping up appearances or worrying about her dads business partners seeing her laugh. she could just genuinely enjoy herself and let herself be a teen.   
before she knew it, it was friday. she was nowhere as mentally prepared as she would've liked to be, she was stressed and kind of annoyed. but she was going to tough it out, for both her own and ty lee's sake. she was just about done with her makeup when her parents yelled from downstairs that they were about to leave. instead of testing their patience anymore than she already had that day, she just shoved her lipstick in her tiny little pouch to apply it in the car. she had already told her parents about meeting ty lee. they didn't really care as long as she stayed out of their way and didn't cause trouble.   
the house was big and decorated in that classy "i'm not going all out but i'll put a garland and some white lights out" way. they walked up and mai pulled out her phone and texted ty lee to meet her by the main stairs. ty lee wasn't there yet. azula was in charge of greeting people as they came in so mai had to face her no matter how much she stood in a corner. "hello there mai, long time no see" azula said in her usual sarcastic tone. she has seemingly appeared out of nowhere.   
"hey, azula." mai responded, trying to sound as uninterested as possible. she scanned the room for zuko or ty lee.   
"looking for someone, a boyfriend maybe?" azula snarked.   
"we've been over this so many times, one i don't like men and i never will, 2 it's not a partner i'm looking for a friend."   
"well if it's someone i've never met, she showed up a few minutes before you did. i didn't see where she went though"  
"thanks then. i'm going to go wait for her," mai said, she really just wanted to get away from azula's nagging. she walked over to the main staircase and leaned on the wall like she had places to go in life. soon enough ty lee found her way over to mai. without thinking mai ran up and grabbed her hand.   
"what was that about?" ty lee laughed.   
"nothing, this party's just sucky. too many men in suits for my taste."  
"it hasn't been that bad for me, but i get that. let's get away from everybody." they walked out of the main room into the formal dining room. it was pretty empty, save for a few people having conversations in the corners, but that was good enough for mai.   
"so how did you and azula even meet?"  
"our dads were friends and work, she was more my age than zuko was so we became friends. we grew apart in high school though, me and zuko are still friends though. he's here somewhere, we should probably find him at some point. he might've brought his boyfriend but i don't know," mai said. "sorry for rambling, i do it when i'm nervous."   
"there's no need to be sorry! i find it cute!" ty lee responded.


	4. chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> party pt 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took me so long and it's really bad but hey i was burnt out and i got something done.

after their little talk in the dining room mai thought it would be good to introduce ty lee to zuko. they held hands when they walked to try and find him, mai had been to enough of these holiday parties to know that zuko was sulking in the corner of the main room. ty lee's hand was small and warm compared to mai's. it was comforting in the sea of people. as they neared closer to his corner, mai saw that he had convinced sokka to come along. sokka was drastically underdressed but it was clear that the effort was put in. "ty lee, zuko and sokka" mai introduced, "sokka and zuko, my friend ty lee"   
"hi!" ty lee said, she seemed awfully happy for someone who had just went through a crowd of scary business men.   
sokka and zuko introduced themselves. "we can get out of this corner if you guys want to" zuko said. so they did. they decided the best place would be the second living room, it wasn't as big as the first one so not as many people would be in it. they sat down on the couches, there wasn't any one else in the room but them so they could talk about whatever they wanted to without worrying about people hearing. "so are you guys like, together?" he gestured at him and sokka.   
"no, we're just friends" mai said, monotone. sokka raised an eyebrow.   
"are you two, if you don't mind me asking?" ty lee questioned. it seemed genuine, so she wasn't homophobic, that was good.   
"yeah, we're just keeping it on the down low here cause zuko's dad is ya know" sokka said looking at zuko. then seemed so, in love, mai really wanted that with ty lee she just didn't know how to go about it. while they were staring at each other azula had walked in "what are you lovebirds doing?" she asked, partly sarcastic and partly serious from her tone, "the party's getting boring and i can't stand hearing last christmas by wham another time, can i sit with you guys?" this time she seemed honest.   
"sure, whatever," zuko said. azula pulled up the lounge chair to the coffee table and sat down.   
"so what are we talking about."  
mai wasn't ready to admit they were just staring at their partners, or in her case crush.   
"oh, you're giving me the silent treatment?" azula said, all of the authenticity gone from her voice. that was the thing with her, she could be giving you the story of all of her trauma one minute and be back to insulting your appearance the next. it was jarring and part of the reason mai and azula lost touch in the first place.   
"no sorry, i guess we just got lost in our thoughts, we weren't really talking about anything much."   
"well, how did you and ty lee meet?"   
"we met at the coffee shop where i work! she invited me after we went to the christmas train park," ty lee said. mai smiled at her. as the night went on and as they got to know each other more, mai was putting a plan together as to how she would eventually tell ty lee how she felt.   
they had been sitting in the living room for a while now, they had all gotten to know each other better. at this point it was too late to leave the room unless you wanted to go out into the sea of now drunk men in suits, that was a big no from mai's standpoint. azula went out and grabbed those squishy store bought cookies that every grocery store has around this time of year. they tasted just like they did at every first grade holiday party, pure packaged sugar. they ate their cookies silently, relishing in the nostalgia that you get whenever you eat one.   
"i can drive you home if you want," azula told them. for her manipulative tendencies she seemed awfully nice tonight, mai had a pretty good time for once.   
"i'm good i have to find my parents anyway," mai said. ty lee had her own car. sokka needed a ride though, he and zuko went with azula. they all went their separate ways, mai and ty lee hugged goodbye, at the last second ty lee kissed mai on the cheek. after that she waved goodbye and went out the door. mai was dumbstruck. was that just a polite way of saying goodbye? she was pretty lost in her thoughts as she meandered through the crowd. her and her parents went out to the car. she drove home just for everyone's sake. when she got home she flopped onto her bed and thought back to that kiss. ty lee didn't kiss anyone else on the cheek, but she didn't know anyone else before that day. mai was overthinking it.


	5. the confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mai asks ty lee on an ice skating date. hijinks ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one, sorry this is late i procrastinated. two, i'm terrible at romance so i may or may not have copy pasted some things

mai was planning to ask ty lee on a real romantic date this week. she didn't quite know how to ask, let alone how to set it up. zuko probably did, she gave him a call and explained her situation. mai eventually came to the conclusion that she would ask ty lee to go ice skating with her and then tell her how she feels afterwards. mai was officially on christmas break, so she had a lot more time in the house all by herself. ty lee's shift at the coffee shop was in the morning so the afternoon or evening would probably work best. another day passed while she stressed about it. what if she's straight? what if she just doesn't like me like that? mai had a natural talent for overthinking things. honestly, what's the worst that could happen? she rejects you? she seems nice enough to stay friends with you at least. eventually she cracked. "hey, would you want to go ice skating with me thursday afternoon?" she wasn't the best with communicating her intentions through text so she hoped that was good enough. a few hours had passed when ty lee responded.   
"sure! does 2 work for you? i'll be looking forward to it! ❤️"  
"yeah, 2 works for me. see you then!"  
mai smiled to herself as she added it to her calendar. now to figure out how to put her feelings into words. in the days up till their date mai wrote her feelings down into a mini monologue. she knew she wasn't going to get to all of it, but at least now she had some idea of what she was going to say. she had been in a few relationships before but none of them had been as important to get right as this one.   
when thursday arrived mai was about as prepared as one can be. she couldn't get a ride from her parents so she was taking the bus. she hated public transportation. the things we do for love. she practiced what she was going to say over and over in her head until the bus pulled up to her stop. she got off and walked the few blocks to where she was meeting ty lee. since it was a weird time of the day the ice skating rink was relatively empty. just a few other couples. ty lee was renting her skates when mai walked in. ty lee wrapped mai in an oddly comfortable hug. they made the usual greetings, merry christmases and how are yous. mai then rented her skates. god, she hadn't been ice skating since she was little. she hoped ty lee was going to be better at it than she was.   
ty lee was. she was a gymnast after all, she went around the rink gracefully and staying out of people's way. mai had fallen down about three times already, she was mortified. "just bend down a little and pretend you're riding a scooter!" ty lee said. after a bit of help mai was sliding around by herself for the most part, she still preferred having ty lee by her though. the rest of the date passed by with mai still not being the best at it and falling down a few more times and ty lee still showing off.   
ty lee offered to take mai out for hot chocolate after. mai agreed thinking that it was a good time to tell her how she really felt. they went to a starbucks near by. ty lee ordered a hot chocolate with extra whipped cream and chocolate syrup. mai just ordered hers plain. they sat down at a table near the back. mai had been giving herself a mini pep-talk in line. i can do this, what's the worst that could happen? she wasn't about to let herself spiral. it's like ripping off a bandaid. just get it over with and it'll be better than you thought.   
"hey, ty lee, i have to tell you something."  
"yeah? what is it?" she responded   
"since the day i first met you, you captivated me! the first time we talked, you touched my soul. you have given me more than i could ever imagine receiving from one person. i cherish the love that we share together and, most of all, i cherish you! you are my inspiration and my determination. i love you with all my heart!" oh shit that was way too fucking sappy. she fucked up so bad she thought. her hands were shaking as she waited for a response. ty lee just looked at her for a while.   
"i feel the same way! that was really poetic, mai"  
"can i kiss you?" mai asked.   
"of course!"  
her lips brushed mai's, softly, delicately, like butterfly wings, just long enough that she could inhale her breath, feel the warmth of her skin, and the taste of her chapstick lingered far after she had gone. it was a different type of kiss, light and soft. an in real love type of kiss. they held hands as the left the store, a romance blooming.


End file.
